Monday, July 18, 2011

Football card deals in 1960

This time, let's look at how the new football cards were advertised to the hobby audience in the days before hobby publications had really establishehd themselves.

In The Sporting News in 1960, the two principal advertisers of new sports cards were G.B. Taylor and Richard Gelman's Card Collectors' Company, both headquartered in New York City.

Usually there wasn't much difference between the advertised prices of the two card dealers. Regardless of which ad a collector had answered in 1960, if he's kept the cards in the condition in which they were received, the profits would have been substantial.

Both Taylor and CCC offered the 1960 Topps NFL football card set for $2 per series of 66. For an extra 50 cents, CCC would throw in the insert set of 33 metallic team stickers. It was those logo stickers that would have proved to have been the real steal back in 1960.

Generally thrown out with the bubblegum or stuck on something the day they were bought, the metallic stickers are a real challenge for today's collectors. The set of 33 has a retail value of up to $400 in nice shape.

The current "book" value of the 132-card 1960 Topps football card set is in the range of $400-600 in Near Mint condition.

1960 Topps

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1960 Fleer

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1960 Topps college logo sticker

The 1960 Fleer set of 132 AFL cards is a $600-750 item today. The nine team emblem decals were available for a buck in 1960, but the set could run you $150-200 today. The set of 19 college pennant decals, two schools per sheet, was $1.50 from G.B. Taylor in 1960. Today you'd do well to pick up the set for $150. Gelman offered the Fleer decals at an even better price, $1 for all 28 pieces.

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1960 Fleer AFL team decals

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Notice that CCC was offering "Authentic 1910 Baseball Cards," for 35 cents apiece. These would have undoubtedly been T206s. They would have likely been in Good or lesser condition, and there would certainly have been no Cobbs, but these would still be $15+ cards today.

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About Me

I have been a baseball card (and other bubblegum cards) collector since the age of three. I am the former editor and publisher of the sportscards and memorabilia periodicals and books at Krause Publications (SCD, et al). I am the former editor of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.